Celeste M. Cavalieri

Celeste was born an adorable, doll-like baby with blonde curly hair and was a sweet happy child. Her life took a turn when at 5 years old she began her lifetime of medical issues, emergencies, and challenges. She took on every single day with strength, grace, and selflessness, caring more for and about others. When our mother would tell her that she felt badly that she had pulled the short straw in life, her response was “it’s nothing, there are so many others who have it worse than I”. The amazing thing is that she meant it.

Everywhere Celeste went you could be sure that she would end up in a conversation with the people around her and in no-time, they would become a lifelong friend. No matter where she was, at the grocery store line, the checkout at the pharmacy, sitting at a table in a restaurant, an art gallery in San Francisco, she would make a connection. If there was a crowd of people, you could bet that she was in the center of it all.

Celeste met her husband, Mark Ellenberg when she worked as the Accounting Office Manager for Storm Weather Products, the Ellenberg family business. Together they hosted beautiful holiday events, inviting family, friends, and those who had no place to go for the holiday. Everyone was welcomed. Throughout their marriage they traveled to Italy, Germany, the wilderness regions of Utah and other parts of the country. She was always open for adventure.

Known for her love of sky-high shoes, beautiful hats, dressing up even just to go food shopping, people knew exactly who she was when she arrived. Celeste & Mark found new friends when they began learning latin and ballroom dancing, she was a natural!

Celeste fought harder than anyone I have ever met to prove the doctors were wrong. Her last months were spent working to overcome LGL Leukemia and a severe lung disease. The combination of diseases was too much for her small frame to conquer this time. She now will live in eternity with no more pain or struggle, dancing and free until we meet again. The struggle now begins for the rest of us.